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The Lord spoke to Daniel in a vision and said, “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
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This is the Track 2 Old Testament selection that will be read aloud in churches following that path on the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 28], Year B, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. It will be paired with Psalm 16, which includes the verse that sings, “For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit.” That set will precede a reading from Hebrews, where Paul wrote, “We have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh).” All will accompany the Gospel selection from Mark, where it is written that Jesus said, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.”
I wrote about this selection from Daniel the last time it came up in the lectionary cycle (2018),; and, I posted those views on my website at that time. Those opinions can be read now by clicking on this link. I firmly stand behind what I wrote then and I feel they are quite appropriate today and well worth reading. Because I have already stated those views, I will not go into depth repeating what I have already said I see in these prophetic words. I will briefly touch on some points I made then, while adding some fresh perspective, focusing on how this short reading from Daniel fits into the theme of all readings for this Sunday. I welcome all to read my 2018 post and compare it to what I will now add.
In my commentaries of this 2021 Year B, I have talked much about the meaning of elohim. This is a word that means an “angel,” simply because it was elohim who Yahweh used to create the Universe. The word “elohim” is written thirty-two times in Genesis 1, each time it is translated into English as “God” [when the word is clearly plural in number, meaning “gods”]. Before there was the creation of “man,” the “elohim” could not have had any physical form. The elohim took physical form in Genesis 2, when the combination of words – “Yahweh elohim” – is found written eleven time, each relative to the making of Adam. They are therefore angles of Yahweh, which are placed in human forms as divine souls. While Satan is also an “elohim” [Job twice says Satan appeared in a meeting of the “sons of elohim”], a human soul can be possessed by an elohim and not be divinely led. Therefore, a “Yahweh elohim” is how one determines who are the wives of Yahweh, as souls married to His Spirit, becoming His angels in the flesh.
In the analysis I did of the Track 1 Old Testament reading, about Hannah, I mentioned the many names that contained the word el. Here, again, we see a name that contains “el.” That name is “Michael,” which questions, “Who Is Like God?, What Is God Like?” Those translations take the word “el” and translate it into English as “God.” The proper translation of the name “Michael” should be this: Who Is Like Yahweh as one of His angels [elohim]? Or, Who Is Yahweh Like when He possesses a human soul in the flesh [an elohim as a Saint]? In this way, the name Israel was applied to the human soul in the flesh named Jacob, elevating his soul to be one Who Retains Yahweh as one of His elohim. That is the way “Michael” should be addressed in this prophecy.
In my 2018 analysis, I mentioned how these three verses in Daniel are linked to the introductory verses of John’s Apocalypse, which is done because this vision of Daniel is seen as a prophecy still unfulfilled, as it The Revelation of John. This is then a selected reading on this Sunday because Jesus spoke of end times, just as did Daniel. In this, it is most important to see that Jesus spoke to each disciple individually, even though they sat together as a collective. In that gathering, Judas Iscariot is among those to whom Jesus spoke individually, which was not the same outcome (his ‘end time’) that was to be, compared to the other disciples. This means the “end times” are specific to each individual soul in a body of flesh, as that is the only ‘end time’ that matters. Thus, all ‘end times’ prophecy must be read as a prophecy that is relative to one’s own soul, relative to when that soul is released for judgment upon death.
This brings up the difference Jesus pointed out (in a later teaching on Mount Olivet) between the sheep and the goats. The same differences in human souls, in particular those who all claim to have some beliefs in Jesus, because the difference is that between belief and true faith. This is how this Daniel reading must be read. Otherwise, one does not see anything spoken by Yahweh through one of His divine prophets as being applicable to oneself. It is always easier to say, “This is not the End Times [yet], so I don’t need to read this as important to me.”
When we read verse one beginning by saying “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise,” this is not the reality of that written. The literal translation into English says, “and in time it shall stand up Michael the ruler great , it stands over the sons of your people”. Rather than a “prince,” this is the possessing Spirit of those souls married to Yahweh. Because Daniel was such a soul, the designation “your people” must be seen as all souls who will be like Daniel and have their souls married to Yahweh. This means “your people” will have all be truly known as “Israel” – those “Who Retain Yahweh as His elohim” – will then “rise up” to assume the name “Michael.” That “stance” will be when souls married to Yahweh will question all who claim to be Yahweh elohim [as Jews in captivity, which will include Christians born after Jesus], “Who Is Like Yahweh through divine marriage?”
To see this as a prophecy of these modern times, one then needs to understand the prophecy saying, “all who attain to written in the book” [which is translated by the NRSV as saying “everyone who is found written in the book”]. In my 2018 interpretation, I assumed this “book” to be the Akashic Record, which would be an ethereal listing of all history – past, present, future – which a divine angle, like Michael, could access. I now see this “book” as the “written” history of “your people” [Jews, and thus Christians], which is the Holy Bible. The prophetic portions of that “book written” would be the New Testament. Therefore, the prophecy shown to Daniel is saying the “time” would come when the “standing up of a spirit that questions, “Who Will Be A Yahweh elohim?” will refer to “all” who have done as the Gospels and Epistles have said, so they will be measured by who is Jesus reborn and who is not.
In the verse that states [NRSV], “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,” this does not refer to past soul, whose bodies of flesh have been long buried. Instead, it refers to all who will be living, prior to death [a personal ‘end time’], where the metaphor says “dead men walking” (from “those who sleep in the dust of the earth”) will then become “alive” in Spirit (from “shall awake”). When the verse then continues to say, “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,” this means the deaths of some people claiming to be Christians [just as in the past there were Jews having the same ‘end times’ judgments] will find some truly are souls married to Yahweh, who had given birth to His Son Jesus [as written], so as Apostles or Saints their souls will find “eternal life” with Yahweh in heaven. Many others will find they had lived lies and their judgment will be continuous reincarnations, leading their souls to experience “eternal contempt” for Yahweh, serving self rather than Him.
The final verse then says [NRSV], “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” In this, the word translated as “wise” means “prudent,” where the intent can be seen as a willingness to receive instruction from the Christ Mind and teach others. The “brightness of the sky” is the light of the sun, which shines as the truth of Yahweh, through the soul of Jesus resurrected within a Saint. They “teach” others, just as Jesus of Nazareth taught his disciples. Those who will truly be saved will be those who enter ministry as Jesus reborn, in order to save others. Therefore, those will “lead many to righteousness,” where the numbers of Saints born into the world over time [the past two thousand years roughly now] will be like the stars hinging light into the expanse of darkness.
In this reading being compared to the others, notice how the First Samuel reading tells of the past record (prior to Daniel’s old age), when the same ‘sheep and goats’ of Israel were shown as Eli and Samuel. Eli could not hear Hannah speaking to Yahweh and belittled her prayer as the utterances of a drunkard. Samuel would be her son, who she would leave with Eli to develop him into a high priest. Samuel would “stand up” to be a judge of the people. Eli would have two sons who were lousy priests; and, rather than punish his own sons for belittling the truth of an Israelite, he refused to do as Yahweh said, choosing to be judged as a failure. Both Eli and Samuel had personal ‘end times.’ One was rewarded, while the other was punished. This is the message of Daniel, shown as fulfilled in the past.
In the Hebrews reading, Paul quoted Jeremiah 31:33, where the words ‘written in the book” are translated into Greek with limitations, when are then further limited in a translation into English, so the original Hebrew of Jeremiah is not seen. We do not read Paul writing the name “Yahweh.” Instead, we read him quoting, “his is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Paul was writing this because the only way to have the law written in one’s heart and in their minds is to have their souls married to Yahweh and be Jesus resurrected, as the Christ Mind. The true measurement of what Paul wrote – “we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,” where one’s real blood becomes the blood of Jesus by his soul being merged with one’s host soul, as his soul resurrected – will be as Daniel wrote. One claiming to believe in Jesus, while worshiping self over Yahweh, will be finding death brings “everlasting contempt.” Those who are truly Saints, as Jesus reborn, through divine marriage of their souls, they will have been sent into ministry as Jesus reborn and granted “everlasting life.”
As a parallel prophecy to that told by Jesus to his disciples, the Temple would be destroyed; but the Temple is not just a building. It represented a false religion where the Jews of that institution were the goats who would be separated and cast into the other darkness, where there would be gnashing of teeth. The sheep would be those, like the disciples, who Jesus warned, ““Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.” Just like the last Sunday, when Jesus warned “Beware the scribes!” the same warning is there will be those who claim to serve Yahweh, when in fact they only sever themselves. They are the one who will lead others astray, rather than be Jesus reborn and lead others to righteousness. This becomes the future of this prophecy, which is always fulfilled and awaiting fulfillment, for as long as soul animate dead flesh.
For a reading that will be read aloud on the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s own personal ministry for Yahweh should already be well underway, the lesson is to read this prophecy as a personal prediction of your soul’s fate. The time to look into the distant future and say, “When Jesus comes again in the clouds” and “When the Rapture will punish all the evil creatures on earth and reward me” – who does nothing for anyone other than self – the reality is each and every human being has a soul that is on loan by Yahweh. When each soul is released at death [and all mortals will certainly die], then Yahweh will judge them for how long they had served Him as a submitted servant and wife. Those who have refused to see their name written in the book – the names Israel and Jesus – they will have brought on their own “everlasting contempt.” The time to hear the word and respond favorable, through self-sacrifice, is now. There can be no meaningful ministry for Yahweh without divine marriage and the resurrection of His Son with one’s soul. Without Yahweh’s Spirit, one is merely saying “I believe in Jesus,” when those lies will be revealed upon one’s ‘end time.’